The Best of Google I/O: Project Glass, Nexus 7 Tablet, Nexus Q Home Entertainment System, and More (Fast Company)
Google announced a slew of new products at its annual developer conference, including the long-awaited Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus Q (pictured left), a home media streamer for Android devices. Betabeat A black orb with a glowing blue stripe, the Nexus Q is not just pretty, it’s Apple-quality pretty. The Verge The Nexus Q is not intended to be a standalone device and requires one or more Android smartphones or tablets to provide access to Google Play content. Engadget Google announced it’s adding support for the purchase of movies on Google Play, as well as TV shows by episode or by season, and even magazines all available now. The New York Times On the underside of the Nexus Q is its most intriguing feature, a simple inscription: “Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.” The Verge The 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet will come pre-loaded with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Google’s latest operating system. Available in black or white, an 8GB version will be priced at $199, with 16GB for $249 this July. All Things D Building the Nexus 7 tablet was no easy task, says Asus chairman Jonney Shih. First off, Google gave the company only four months to build the product. Then there was the task of building a high-end tablet that could sell for just $200. Plus, he said, Google can be kind of demanding. Wired In Jelly Bean, Google has a proper Siri fighter, but she has no fancy name a la Siri or Samsung’s S Voice. In Jelly Bean, the voice assistant simply emerges with a tap of the microphone icon in the ever-present search box on Android’s home screens. Ars Technica There’s a big question that always looms large over the announcement of any new Android version: These features look nice and all, but will my device ever be upgraded? VentureBeat Stop the dadgum presses! Googler Louis Gray just told us about a new Google+ feature that you won’t read about anywhere else. The Next Web If there’s one thing this year’s Google I/O opening keynote will be remembered for, it’s the skydiving, biking and abseiling demo of Google Glass. If you missed the epic moment, here it is. GigaOm However, when you stand back from all the announcements made by Google and increase the periphery, you start to notice that this is a company that is fighting a lot of battles on many fronts. In some places it is winning, but most places it is trench warfare.

Apple Said to Prepare iTunes Changes to Improve Sharing (Bloomberg)
Apple Inc. plans an overhaul of iTunes that would mark one of the largest changes to the world’s biggest music store since its 2003 debut, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. By year’s end, the company will more closely integrate its iCloud file-storage service with iTunes, so users can more seamlessly access and manage their music, videos and downloaded software apps across different Apple gadgets, the people said. Apple also plans new features for sharing music, the people said.

Facebook Promotes User Education with New Icon Above Ads (Inside Facebook)
Facebook has added a small icon linking to an “About Facebook Advertising” page next to the word “Sponsored” above ad units on the site. This gives users a quick way to learn more about how Facebook ads work and why users see the ads they see. Techcrunch Ads, not payments, are the future of Facebook monetizing mobile, but it needs content to show them beside. The new Follow action announced Wednesday could deliver that content by letting you follow someone in a mobile app, and then sending the updates you’d normally see in that app back to your ad-laden news feed. Bloomberg The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based advocacy group, wrote the FTC Wednesday urging the agency to investigate Facebook’s decision to display @facebook.com e-mail addresses under the ‘Contacts Info’ section of users’ profiles. The New York Times According to two Facebook engineers who asked not be named because they are not authorized to speak about unreleased products, Facebook has completely rebuilt its iOS application to optimize for one thing: speed.

Twitter’s New Follower Notification ‘Digests’ are Just Right: Less Email, More Discovery (The Next Web)
We’ve heard reports that Twitter has revamped its new follower notification emails beyond the the new format it introduced recently, and the latest change is a significant one that makes the emails considerably more valuable for users of the microblogging service. The new email provides a digest of new followers, rather than a dedicated email for each single new follower, which cuts down massively on inbox overload and inconvenience.

Back to the Future: Myspace Co-Founder Chris DeWolfe Joins the Board of Talenthouse (All Things D)
Myspace co-founder Chris DeWolfe will be joining the board of innovative social media and marketing firm Talenthouse. In an interview Wednesday, DeWolfe said the company — which links creative talent to brand advertisers — reminds him of the best of what Myspace did in its early days, when it was a hip and hot hub of music and other entertainment activity on the Web.

Five Months After Launch Chill Raises $8M For Social Video Discovery (SocialTimes)
When Chill, previously a social TV-viewing experience, relaunched in January as a social video discovery site, it seems it was a very good decision. The new Chill has taken off like wildfire over the past five months, quickly becoming a favorite amongst online video fanatics and Wednesday they announced an $8 million funding round.

New Zealand Court Finds Megaupload Search Warrants Illegal (Reuters)
Search warrants used when 70 New Zealand police raided the mansion of the suspected kingpin of an Internet piracy ring were illegal, a New Zealand court ruled on Thursday, dealing a blow to the FBI’s highest profile global copyright theft case. TorrentFreak In addition, the data removed from New Zealand by the FBI (which they claim was ‘not stolen’, since it was ‘only data’) was also ruled to be illegally obtained, and should not have been taken out the country. AP / Yahoo Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak says the U.S. piracy case against Kim Dotcom is “hokey” and a threat to Internet innovation. “It’s just kind of ridiculous what they did to his life,” Wozniak said in a telephone interview. “An awful lot of Kiwis support him. The U.S. government is on thin ground.”

What Makes a Kickstarter Campaign Successful? Northwestern Students Launch One to Find Out (SocialTimes)
For the past year, members of Northwestern’s Creative Action Lab have been studying the effects of social media fundraising on creativity and innovation. After interviewing more than 50 backers and creators of crowdfunded projects large and small, the team has compiled some best practices for launching successful campaigns on Kickstarter and other sites.

Hollywood Agents Join App Frenzy (Wall Street Journal)
Creative Artists Agency is going into the mobile-apps business. The agency, whose clientele includes Will Smith, James Cameron and Natalie Portman, is a partner in publisher Moonshark Inc., whose first release arrives in Apple Inc.’s App Store today. In the iPad game “DancePad,” players use their hands to simulate breakdance moves like moonwalks, spinning windmills and robotic popping and locking. CNET The app, originally the brainchild of several USC students who were inspired by finger break-dancing videos on YouTube, has the benefit of star power. It has J-Lo as its cheerleader and a promo video featuring break-dancing crew Jabbawockeez of America’s Best Dance Crew fame.

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